Ragnarok
by Aviantei
Summary: One year ago, a disturbance of "Chaos" sent Izaya and Shizuo from their world to "Reality." Now aligned with a 'Chaos Management Agency,' the duo have been working together for the sake of finding a way home. However, one mission may force them to adjust their worldview more than they already have.
1. Cover

**Ragnarok**

By: Aviantei

1

Cover

* * *

"Is it just me, or does each one of these freakin' things get bigger every time?"

The blond man reached for his pocket—and the pack of cigarettes inside—before a hand caught his wrist. The man's companion sighed before letting go and giving a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. "Now, now, you're not allowed to smoke in the lobby of this hotel or almost any hotel for that matter, how many times have I told you that?" he remarked before pushing black bangs out of his face. "Focus, honestly." The blond growled before dropping his hand to the side, forgoing the cigarettes for later.

The brunette's slender fingers traced down his neck, and the blond mimicked this action in a slightly rougher manner. Ultra-sensitive and voice activated microphones that worked on a broadcasting signal incapable of being interfered with or giving hint of transmission to outside sources rested under a layer of custom made skin imitator. There wasn't even a bump indicating the mike as it was less than the thickness of the average micro SD card, and the artificial skin even felt like real skin. The brunette would have liked to see someone find the microphone without him peeling off the coating and showing it to them.

Not that he would do such a thing. That would defeat the purpose.

"Test," he barely whispered, not even concerned by the fact that he could hardly hear himself.

"All voice systems broadcasting properly at designated time, confirm." This time the voice was that of the blond. The sound came from both beside the brunette and the speaker in his ear at the time; the blond still couldn't whisper as quietly, although the brunette wasn't going to take the fact of a deeper toned voice an excuse. Not that it mattered, considering the speaker was even smaller than the microphone and put under the same protections as well.

Despite its size, it adjusted the volume of the speaker to a standable level within a specified range, and still produced high quality sound. They were completely unable to be heard by others, unless the noise coming through was horribly loud, and even then it was nothing more than the noise you could hear coming from headphones some kid had turned up too much.

_And that, _the brunette thought, _is what happens when you provide developers with only the best in worth materials and million dollar yearly incomes._ A chorus of responses filled his ear at once, in perfect synchronization. It sounded like the right amount of people, but one could never be sure. Besides, check-in protocol was protocol, no matter how annoying.

"Any difficulties in receiving audio transmission of orders as of now, confirm," he stated on time, almost out of habit. Even though he had not even been doing this job for a year, he took to things quickly, and instinct and expertise guided him.

"Any difficulties in sending audio transmission of response will be dealt with immediately; please stand by if that is the case," the brunette continued. The allotted period of time passed in silence, meaning there were no difficulties so far, so the blond had continued with the perfectly timed script. Every action and move in this mission was timed, although things loosened up after the initial check. When the formalities were passed, there was free movement until you were in the critical parts. Then, the things you ran over and over again in drills until you could perform them in your sleep within near impossible time requirements were given high priority. Only in the field were you excused for running over these limits, and _that_ was only when the situation could not be helped and you merely added a few extra seconds to the clock.

"Mission parameters correctly set; focus lies only in current location. Additional entities that do not arrive in this vicinity will be dealt with in future. Do not, under any circumstances, go after targets if they flee the vicinity. Those will be dealt with by the mobile force. Unless you have those difficulties addressed earlier, report to your posts. Time until observation and Command is up: estimated twenty minutes. Time until mission begins: one hour, unchangeable, even in the event of emergency. Dismissed."

As the brunette finished the only non-verbatim from the latest protocol handbook (and that was only partial at best, since the words were similar to what he said every time, just with different add-ons based on specifics) section of his speaking, there was a slight surge. The group of people that the two males had been standing in the middle of moved away bit by bit, their motions so natural would have needed to expect it to see it.

Despite the suspicious-sounding intentions, the entire group had been dressed in casual clothes. Various television and cartoon characters and pop culture stars were just as common on t-shirts as the slogans and simply color designs, and many of them were in jeans. There were even a few skirts on some of the female members, varying lengths, and, for all purposes, the twenty-some people that had just begun their navigation through the beginnings of a crowded yet expansive hotel lobby looked like ordinary people that almost seemed like they weren't associated at all. And that, of course, was the point.

The only two who could be classified as 'unusual' were the superiors, the blond and the brunette, who were in suits. However, they could get away with it, but not because they looked like businessmen.

"Oh, wow, you guys' cosplay is _amazing_!" a voice exclaimed, and the two turned to see a particularly short teenage boy with glasses smiling up at them. "The hair, the faces, everything! Are you guys even wearing wigs, 'cause that looks natural. Oh, wow, your hair even has a tiny bit of brown at the roots, like you bleached it, but not quite. Is brown your natural hair color, or did you do a double dye job for authenticity?"

The blond shifted, shoving his hands in his pockets, looking away from the boy. The brunette laughed as a light side of pink covered the latter's cheeks, showing his embarrassment. "Ah, thank you very much," the brunette responded. Comments like this were common, especially when they worked the anime conventions, and the brunette was used to doing all the talking. "We've worked very hard to perfect the look, although we started cosplaying as them since we were similar in looks to begin with." It was a partial lie, but the boy didn't need to know that. The brunette smiled for effect.

"Oh my god, you even sound like him," the boy stated in awe, his eyes growing slightly wide. "Hey, hey, Krys, come here!" A girl on the edges of the slowly growing crowd surrounding the elevators turned her head, and the boy waved her over. She pointed at the crowd, but the boy wouldn't let up, so she heaved a sigh before walking over.

"If we're stuck walking all the way up to the top floor, Jared, I will kill you," Krys threatened, crossing her arms over what appeared to be the female Gakuen Hetalia cosplay. Judging by the styling of her hair, it looked like she was cosplaying as Poland. "So tell me just how important this is, and then I'll decide your fate."

"Aw, come on, Krys, walking up stairs is good for you!" Jared protested, but the glare aimed in his direction made him quickly get to the point. "Look at these guys; they couldn't be any more authentic unless they were trying to kill each other! And I don't think they're willing to risk losing their hotel room by destroying the lobby. Their Izaya even sounds like Izaya!"

"It's a pleasure to meet you," the 'Izaya' remarked in smooth tones. The expression change on Krys's face was nowhere as extreme as Jared's, but she did raise her eyebrows in response.

"Damn, that's impressive," she remarked. "Did you steal Johnny Yong Bosch's voice box or something?"

"He kind of sounds like Kamiya-san at the same time, too," Jared added in. "I mean, Johnny and Kamiya's voices are close, but his is like the perfect blend between the two…" The boy was clearly one of the overly obsessive types, completely worthy of the title of 'fanboy.'

"Hey, what about you, does your voice do that?" The question was directed towards the blond, who only made a sound similar to _hmph_ in his throat. "Is that a no? Come on, I just wanna hear of you sound like Shizuo or not, what's so wrong about that?" When 'Shizuo' still gave no answer, 'Izaya' grinned before nudging his companion in the ribs with his elbow.

"Come on, Shizu-chan, talk for her," he insisted, voice almost a taunting song. "I know you're not used to all the attention we get, but you should at least try to show off for the ladies." The blond twitched.

"Shut up, Flea, or I kill you!" he shouted, though keeping his voice still at a volume where it wouldn't be too much of an attention grabber over the noise of the ever forming crowd. Before all of this, he would have just roared it out, and chunked one of the hotel's potted plants at him to boot. But now, with this job… He had a purpose and wasn't willing to ruin it over banter that had once been their only form of speaking to each other.

"There, Shizu-chan, was that so hard?" 'Izaya' chirped, letting out another peal of laughter as he tried to reach for 'Shizuo's' hair. His attempts were interrupted by both his hand being batted out of the way and a question from Krys.

"Are you two a Shizaya cosplay duo or…?"

'Izaya' let 'Shizuo' shout his protest—a very loud and resounding "NO!" that no one took notice of, thanks again to all the chatter—before giving the explanation he had said so many times before. "No, we are not. To us, the pairing doesn't really seem canon, although people think we are just because we're friendly towards each other," he stated. It was more than the 'canon' concept, though; the idea of acting that way, even for cover, made both of them feel sick. "There are certain limits we can go to on hating each other, so we opt for slightly more friendly interactions. Otherwise, we try our best to stay in character as much as our acting skills allow us."

"Okay, so what gave you inspiration for the suits?"

"_Krys…_" Jared whined, pulling on his friend's sleeve. "You don't have to ask so many questions. What'll I do if you if you piss them off? I might not be able to talk to them again…" Krys rolled her eyes at his paranoia.

"No, no, not at all, it's a valid question," 'Izaya' assured, shrugging it off. "We've just seen some fanart with the concept in it, not to mention it fit really well with this AU fic I read once. We figured we'd mix it up a bit, show something different for cosplay. Not to mention, a lot of girls really seem to like the suits." He smiled a little bit, even though his logical brain knew the extra attention he was alluding to wasn't really what they needed. "We even have fake guns that kind of complete the image, but those are still up in our room. We wanted to keep them in good condition for tomorrow, since there's going to be more people."

Of course, the weapons were real, although they worked in a different way than firing bullets. More of that specialized technology for you, which meant that it would pass the con's weapons guidelines without even the slightest trace of suspicion.

Krys nodded in approval, letting a smile onto her face. "Sorry 'bout the interrogation there, I just like getting all the questions out of the way." The grin forming was slightly sheepish, but it suited her." The only problem with that is that I always come off sounding antagonistic when I do that. I'm trying to work on that, though…"

"Hey, can I take a picture with you two?" Jared asked, eyes shining, the potential crisis passed. 'Shizuo' shrugged, and 'Izaya' nodded approval for the both of them. A few minutes passed of Jared's digital camera flashing and trading hands (even into those of a passing member of the hotel staff, for the sake of getting all four in the picture), and then the boy uttered nearly thirty 'thank you'-s and clung to the camera like it was made of gold when it was done.

"Oh, do you think we could meet up sometime tomorrow? I really wanna see you guys with the guns, maybe get a few more shots…" Jared's voice sounded like he was dreaming as he made the request, and 'Izaya' couldn't help but chuckle. This boy's reactions were so much like those of the hordes of fangirls he had entertained in the past few months.

"Sure, not a problem. We generally just get dragged into photo shoots and the like, so just ask around and you'll find us." Going to the convention was essential in keeping up the act as mere cosplayers, and was actually part of the mission specs, too. They would conduct a similar operation to the one in the hotel tonight in the halls of the connected convention center tomorrow.

Even so, 'Izaya' could sense 'Shizuo's' irritation directed towards him on this concept. That wasn't even something that took practice, since the latter was irritated a good percent of the time, but that didn't change the fact that he was just so attuned to it.

"Well, it's almost past Shizu-chan's bedtime, so you can imagine that he's getting cranky," 'Izaya' said, not helping out his situation at all. He was quite sure he'd be strangled for that one when the time came. "Well, crankier than usual." Still not helping. "We were gonna use the stairs, so we'll part here. Good luck with that elevator and good night."

"Bye," chorused Krys and Jared, both smiling and waving.

'Shizuo' made a straight beeline for the door leading to the stairwell, not even bothering to acknowledge that he had even talked with the two otaku. 'Izaya' spared them a wave back to make up for it. Once he reached the door (a good five feet behind 'Shizuo'), he looked back into the highly crowded lobby, now filled with the many anime con goers preparing to return to their rooms, most clustered around the elevator.

He saw Krys smack Jared in the back of the head for this, and let out a laugh.

* * *

'Shizuo' was already near the top of the first flight of stairs when 'Izaya' caught up to him. Although the brunette had just ran up the stairs to now walk beside his companion, he was none the worse for wear, and wasn't even having problems breathing. This wouldn't have seemed that off, if he had not just ran up there in the time frame of a few seconds, something even the others under his command couldn't do, no matter how many of them tried to do so in their training sessions. The blond was completely unsurprised by this fact, and continued his trek up to the fifth floor. The shorter of the two wasn't even looking for praises, and instead checked something on what appeared to be his cell phone.

Because the fact that these two had just cemented themselves in Krys and Jared's brains as 'Izaya' and 'Shizuo' had nothing wrong with it, as they truly _were_ Izaya and Shizuo.

"No more," Heiwajima Shizuo declared before scoffing. "At least that's what I'd like to say, but we can't do that, can we? We gotta put up with it so we can find that source of 'Chaos' from back then. It's the only way to get us home." The proceeding silence was soon filled with a heavy sigh from the man. "I'm smoking when we get into that hotel room, you got me?"

Orihara Izaya shrugged indifferently at this obvious disregard for the law, returning his phone to his suit pocket. After all, he wasn't one to talk. "Fine, fine, I'll just shut down the smoke alarm, like I always do," he replied casually, as if he was talking about doing the laundry. "You really should loosen up a bit more, though, Shizu-chan. You really just need to have fun with it."

The fist in Shizuo's pocket almost tightened, but he stopped himself for the sake of the cigarette pack in his hand. "I really wish you would stop calling me that, Flea."

"The chances of me stopping calling you 'Shizu-chan' are the same as you stopping calling me 'Flea,' which is never gonna happen." Izaya amused himself by jumping over the guardrail from one section of stairs to the other, saving himself the turn. He made his way up the stairs backwards, looking down at Shizuo all the way. "Besides, the fans love it, not to mention people will think it's strange we're not calling each other that when we go back, since we don't know if time will pass there or not…"

"Fine. But it's not gonna matter, since I'm going to enjoy killing you when we get back. Now that'll be a show we can't put on for these otaku."

"Which is just a bit depressing since I'm sure they'd probably pay us to watch," Izaya said, thinking about the extra cash. Not that he needed it, but with the Agency, you still had to fill out a lot of annoying and meticulous paperwork when it came to money, despite the fact that you could still spend it on something completely non-work related without a good reason. Realizing that they had reached their destination floor, Izaya pushed open the door.

"Hey, Flea, about what that kid said," Shizuo started, catching up with Izaya who was holding the door open for him. "Are my roots really starting to show? I kind of lost track of how much time's passed since we've been on so many jobs for the summer season…"

"Only a little bit, but you might want to get it bleached again before the next job," Izaya replied, skipping down the hall to their room. It was the one at the exact center of the hotel, so they could personally respond to any potential emergencies in the best fashion. The Agency bought out these rooms for operations nearly the entire year in advance. "Then again, some of the girls might like it; the only time they've seen you officially with brown hair was since you were in elementary school."

"Whatever, I'll take care of it when this is over." Shizuo didn't see the point in appealing to anyone, as they would probably only get in the way. Besides, the only time that was useful was when you were seducing your targets, which he had no interest in doing if Izaya could take care of it in his place. Not that he liked letting the flea doing that either, targets or no.

Izaya knew this was his partner's thought process, and sighed as he slid the card key into the slot below the door handle. "Honestly, Shizu-chan, you need to put more consideration of the concept of 'cover'; it's quite important." The door handle beeped, and the two entered the room, only turning the lights on after the door closed behind them. The two desks in the room had been moved together and now hosted one of the simpler versions of the Agency's operation command stations. Shizuo went to start everything up while Izaya's hand went back to his neck, prioritizing his voice communication amongst the agents who had dispersed earlier.

"Sorry, everyone, we're having a bit of a delay in Command set up. New estimated time stands at ten minutes; operation execution time is unable to be changed. Please be prepared for anything. Specific operations briefing will begin almost immediately after Command is established, please stand by."

* * *

(Falls over because this writing is old and I still don't think I fixed it up enough, but I guess it's presentable so here it is anyway.)

_Ragnarok_ is a project that started two and a half years ago and was inspired by a dream I had. I wrote the first two chapters back then and a bunch of notes... It ended up on my queue of things to post and so I decided to start working on it again.

As with all my stories I'm looking for ways to improve them, so if you find something please let me know!

When the next chapter of this will come out is not planned, but the new _Jokes, Whims, &amp; Coincidences_ is estimated to be out within a few months. Other projects are currently the priority, but there's a blog thing I have where I sort of talk about updates and such...

On a silly side note: I do ship Shizaya, but I honestly think that both respective parties would gag if they realized people wanted them to date. As such, Izaya's comments are really more his theoretical perspective than mine.

I haven't had much time to write lately...Hopefully my spring break will fix that.

* * *

Next Time: ACTIVE

[POST] 030514

[EDIT] 031914


	2. Active

**Ragnarok**

By: Aviantei

2

Active

* * *

"Command is now officially active, cases to be assigned shortly. Your receivers are to remain on at all times from this point on until the mission comes to a close. Any failure to do so that is not the result of an equipment malfunction will ultimately have the consequence of being decommissioned from the Agency."

Izaya was once again dictating the manual-based speech to the waiting agents who by now were scattered about in their various hotel rooms. He was always the one to do it, but not because Shizuo didn't know the things to say. They were equally capable in this aspect, but Izaya just possessed a natural eloquence that Shizuo lacked. Izaya wasn't complaining either, because talking more gave him a sense of superiority, just like it always had, even though he officially was ranked the same as his partner.

"All agents are reminded that your targets are chosen by a combination of convenience and Chaos threat. Your priority is not to be seen by anyone while in the midst of operations, particularly non-targets. Thus, you will only go after those targets that are alone, unless there are multiple targets gathered together. If this is the case, there must be at least one agent per target in the operations group.

"Those targets that are marked at levels eighty and higher are not to be dealt with alone, with number of members in accordance with Agency requirements. Any targets exceeding the two-hundred level mark are only to be dealt with by myself and Commander Heiwajima; you are required to inform us if this is the case. Your initial assignments are being sent out now; your additional assignments will go in accordance with the time and location of completion. If you believe you are near an optimal target, once again, contact myself or Commander Heiwajima for permission.

"Remember to take extreme caution when dealing with targets. Unnecessary aggravation of targets may result in a surge of Chaos that will not harm you. However, it will cause damage to other worlds, which may ultimately come to affect ours. These effects are generally irreversible.

"Time until mission commences is ten minutes, you are under command to stand by."

Izaya switched off his mike afterwards, almost getting tired of doing this. It was the same speech every single time, and it was more than just a little bit annoying. The fact that each mission was different was his primary motivator, as it was impossible to have the same combination of targets being dealt with by the same group of agents, making each mission unique. And for not even being on the job a year, not a single mission that he and Shizuo had headed had gone wrong.

Their target on this mission was the "Chaos" that present throughout most commands. It was a powerful force with a number of causes, and highly dangerous. Not necessarily to this plane of existence, but to others.

Every single television show, every single book ever written, every single _thought_ had in the terms of creating a story had its own dimension out there, technically close, but still impossibly far away. Those that came first, those were the original worlds. And then the fans gave those worlds additional energy, but it came in two forms.

Purity was the base of the worlds, and a lot of the energy given to those worlds was of this type. It came from love for the worlds people believed to be fake, but was even more so present when people expressed this love and showed it off to those with like minds. Many forms of this were possible, but the more common medias were practiced by those that currently filled this hotel: fanfiction, fanart, and cosplay.

Of course, where there were good, wonderful, and absolutely fantastic versions of these expressions, there were also the bad, and those were the source of this "Chaos" the Agency was seeking to detain, which was dangerous in the way Izaya had stated earlier. However, as research had showed it to be, there were far too many variables for distinction of what exactly ended in which energy was produced.

So instead of searching that way to locate the problem (research was still going on, though; more of those researchers with their impossible salaries), a system was created that tracked both Chaos and Purity readings. And while some areas were more active than others on the scales, there were places that never failed to have high readings and marked as priority mission locations.

Those places were fan conventions; very much like the anime one Izaya and Shizuo were attending right now.

Shizuo, who had spent the entire time frame of Izaya's issuing of orders taking into account targets that had yet to be assigned to agents, stopped his typing a few minutes after the brunette was done. He had never been very good with technology, but the situation had essentially forced some amount of skill onto him in the past months. And while he could work the system to the necessary extent, it took a good amount of concentration not to lose his patience with the thing.

"Hey, Izaya, you checked out those two kids earlier, right?" he asked. "What were their names again…? Jamie and Kate?"

"Jared and Krys," Izaya corrected, not ceasing his own typing or looking away from the computer screen in the process. That was a level of multi-tasking Shizuo knew he could never match (as much as he hated to admit), but could make himself feel better about by the fact that the former informant had much more experience with computers than himself. By the time Shizuo had learned to work the system, Izaya had already mastered it, made some personalized program adjustments, and was working the thing entirely through the keyboard. "And yes, I did. They both check out exceptionally."

A few extra punches on the keyboard were made before Izaya stopped, and when he turned his screen towards Shizuo, the blond could see the two kids' system profiles glowing at him. "The boy doesn't have a speck of Chaos on him; he only role-plays a little, and has so much love for anything he gets into, his Purity could probably fuel about ten separate targets. The girl only has a bit of Chaos, but I think her reading's from the boost the con gives. That and she's a little bit more involved: multiple RP accounts and a series of written one-shots. But they're nothing to worry about, especially when their collective level mark is in the single digits."

Shizuo nodded at this, lighting up a second cigarette, despite the fact that he had just barely finished his first. "So we're not going to have to send anyone to Neutralize them?" he questioned. In a few more taps at the keyboard, Izaya had cleared the profiles and resumed his work, shaking his head in response as he did so. "That's good; they seemed like really good kids, even though I wasn't in the mood to deal with them."

Although there wasn't actually an energy source that rested between Chaos and Purity, the Agency had still termed the concept as "Neutrality," since neither of the energies existed in that state. While the ideal thing to do would be to ultimately take the targets and replace their Chaos with a minimal amount of Purity, they were nowhere near optimized enough to do this. So instead, they settled with Neutrality, giving the targets a chance to gain Purity instead. There were still cases where targets reverted back to their Chaos state, but they were still lesser threats to the balance of energies than they had been before.

The weapons they used varied in looks, modeled after various things that were easier to get through the convention's check-in desks, but each agent still possessed a gun model, simply because it was easier to use for most people. It worked by sending Purity into the target, ultimately combining with their Chaos output and breaking it down. It was a simple process really, and the basic weapons even worked in a fifty-foot radius, which was more than enough. It was really a wonder how the Agency even supported itself with all the money it spent on specialists in merely a month.

"Okay, time to focus, Shizu-chan," Izaya remarked, resetting his mike back into the active setting. Shizuo finished his cigarette and put it out in the ash tray he had earlier gotten from his belongings (it was getting harder to find places that allowed you to smoke, so he came prepared) before turning back to his computer and activating his mike as well. "All equipment still working properly, confirm."

There was a chorus of replies, the same as earlier, and both males in the hotel room prepared themselves. Izaya grinned as he spoke his favorite words from the protocol manual.

"All systems online, priorities established. Mission status is officially set to active; you may begin."

* * *

While the hotel's main lobby was quite large, that was nothing what happened when you traveled to the second floor. There rested an extra expanse of floor space that had its ceiling open all the way up to the banisters surrounding the top floor. The furnishings varied between the extravagant to what you could find in a fast food restaurant. The more lavish pieces were set up as more of the type of thing for people to relax and wait on, but the more commonplace items were set up around a part of this room that served as a food court.

The area had been more crowded before in the past, but was still nothing to be shrugged off in the present. The crowd from earlier had thinned considerably, but there were still those clustering around the additional elevators that were in this part of the building. Even so, there were others just scattered about the furniture, deciding to just wait for the crowds to disperse before even attempting to ride on an elevator. Apparently this was a much better option than making the trek up to whichever floor they were being housed on.

Some such groups had even come prepared for this situation, and sat about with books, portable game systems, and the occasional deck of cards to use to pass the time. One of these groups had even brought a boom box that was now plugged into an outlet in one of the cafés. Although those who had brought it were no longer paying attention to it, it still played at a low volume. And if anyone were to listen to it, they would discover something strange.

The song was one that many people at the con would recognize, even if it might take them a few moments. Some of them would be used to a different voice, but that was also to be expected, since there were many different versions of the song if one took a look around in the right places. But even so, it was not a song to be playing on a radio station, no matter what kind, and yet the device's display claimed that's what it was on.

_Poppu ni sensu o utaou ka  
sekai utsumuichau mae ni  
kyutto shichatta kokoro no oto o douzo  
mada-mada wasurenai wa  
Nante kirei na nagame na n deshou ka  
koko kara mieru fuukei  
kitto nani hitotsu kawaranai kara  
kareta jimen o hau no  
Hoppu-suteppu de odorou ka—_

And just as soon as anyone could take notice to the event (which no one did), it was over, and the music suddenly cut out into a DJ for a Saturday night broadcast that could have been happening anywhere in the world. The transition wasn't a smooth one, but abrupt, almost like changing the channel, but the boom box's owners remained oblivious to it, let alone actually touching it to be a catalyst.

"Ah, I couldn't pull it off after all…"

These words came from one table over along with a small sigh, spoken by girl who hadn't seemed to be paying any attention either, despite the boom box being just as close to her as it was to the others. But seeing as she was the only one giving any sort of reaction to the strange occurrence on the radio, she clearly had been, despite having her nose buried in the small red notebook she had been scribbling in. It might have been a premature assumption, but you could guess she was a participant in the con by the napkin in front of her displaying an anime style drawing.

To be specific, it looked to be a drawing of Izaya, although he was dressed far differently in this drawing than his actual appearance in the hotel room only a few floors above. He was wearing one of the jackets deemed to be his trademark by the fans, which was black per usual. There were a few variations from his typical appearance, though, as that his hair had been left white save for slight blue highlights which adorned the fur linings on his jacket as well. Some would find this odd, but those in the know would understand once they saw the headphones around his neck, indicating him as one of the Psychedelic Dreams versions.

Written alongside this drawing was the caption of "Limone," the name of a Japanese fandubber who often sung various songs while imitating Izaya's voice (who had found some of these while researching to better fit into the fan community; he was greatly amused).

Another napkin beside this one had also been marked on in pen, but instead of a drawing it held words. Some might expect a note or maybe even something resembling a story idea, but this was not the case. Instead, the lyrics for the song that had just been mysteriously playing on the neglected radio were written out in small capital letters, along with the heading of "World's End Dance Hall."

"Couldn't pull what off, Karellen?"

The girl's head suddenly popped up at the sound of her name, sending her shoulder length light brown hair slightly fluttering. The small jolt she gave ended in a small ink dot being marked onto the page of her notebook. "Ah, crap…" she muttered, even though no words had been obstructed by it. Her younger brother leaned over her shoulder in an attempt to see what was happening.

"Did you miss some important plot hole or something…?"

Karellen Fenlon snapped the book shut from her brother's gaze in embarrassment, and gave him a small glare in response. "No, Elijah," she responded slightly harshly. "And you know the planning stages of my stories are none of your business." Elijah stuck his tongue out at this, and Karellen responded by doing the same.

"Really, you two?" Michael Fenlon questioned from the other side of the table, and both returned their tongues to their mouths. He had to admit it was better than the physical fights they occasionally got into at home, but it was still something he wished they would hold off on while in public. "But really, Spud, what were you muttering about this time? Is something wrong?"

Karellen tried to ignore the nickname considering she wasn't around her father much (her mother also used an equally embarrassing one, but at least she was used to that), but could feel a blush creeping onto her cheeks for a different reason. She talked to herself a lot, a habit from not being around people much, but she could have sworn her sentence had stayed in her head for once. Even so, this was clearly not the case, so she was forced to respond.

"Ah, I was thinking about dessert," she said, pushing her glasses up to better frame her brown eyes. "I really wanted some, but I don't think my stomach can hold it. I think I'll just wait until tomorrow and try again at lunch…"

"How can you be full already; you hardly ate anything," Elijah protested. "You never eat enough, you know. No wonder you're such a stick."

Not putting out her tongue again took more effort than Karellen would have liked, but she resisted the urge anyway. In fact, she ignored her brother entirely and talked to her father instead. "Actually I'm kinda feeling tired. Since I'm not gonna eat dessert may I have the card key? I think I'll just walk up to our room and turn in early."

"Sure thing," Michael responded, reaching into his pocket. Karellen mumbled a quick "thank you" when he handed her the plastic, and proceeded to load the napkins and notebook into her small side bag, adorned with _Bleach_ images and logos, as well as a pin set of _Durarara! _characters.

"You're really gonna walk up to the room? I'd rather wait for the elevator…" Elijah made his declaration after finishing off his third cup of pop for the meal. Karellen rolled her eyes and ruffled his hair.

"It's only on the fourth floor, you wuss. Besides, I could walk up to the room, walk back down, and back up again in the time it would take for me to even get _on_ the elevator," she rationalized, leaving Elijah to pout over his now messy hairdo. "Night, you guys."

Karellen adjusted the strap of her bag one last time before walking off to the nearest stairwell, which was farther away than what she had expected. Then again, they had been in the middle of the room, so it only stood to reason. She had only gone a few feet before her phone vibrated in her back pocket, which she heard more than more than she felt. Looking at the screen, she was informed of the new text message from someone labeled "Liet."

_Hey, Fel, Jared wanted me to let you know that he saw these "awesomely fantastical" Izaya and Shizuo cosplayers earlier and figured you'd be interested since you're just as much of a fan that he is. He would have told you himself, but he's currently spamming the Internet with these pictures he took. He says he'll send you the links through anyway possible._

_Oh, and we're looking forward to hanging out with you tomorrow, considering we haven't seen you in person for a whole year~! You know me, I'll be the Gakuen Poland, and Jared will be a fanboy. See ya then~!_

There was a smile on Karellen's face as she typed out a quick reply, shoving the device back into her pocket after the send was confirmed. She continued the trek to the stairwell while humming the song from earlier under her breath.

Even so, there was a certain serious look in her eye when she passed a man in the hallway. But it was only there for a second, and gone by the time anyone would have had the opportunity for a second glance. This time, she made sure that the words stayed in her brain without escaping into the air.

_So they've begun, huh?_

* * *

Welcome to "Paige is a dumbass and completely forgot that today was a Wednesday and she needed to post this."

Thanks to NozomiSayo, mika . siam . 71192, Alwaystru, Fiare, CloeGryffindor, and Monkier Slash for your respective reviews, favorites, and follows. I'm glad that you like this idea that came out of a dream, and hope to hear from you guys again (tho it has been a while since I updated, haha)

This time around we get a bit more about the Agency, plus Karellen makes her debut! While Karellen is going to be one of the main characters, there will be no serious shipping (not serious shipping because she's an otaku, however, will be accepted).

This was also the the last of the chapters written back in the original concept phase. The rest of the story will therefore be all more recently written material. :)

The song is "World's End Dance Hall." While I was developing this chapter, I imagined the Limone version, just to clarify. Since there are three alt colors for Izaya's Psychedelic Days versions (which people in art treat like different personalities), I personally refer to them by names of different Nico Nico Douga singers who often fandub for Izaya, or just sound like Kamiya Hiroshi in general: Pink-Panyo, Blue-Limone, and Green-Shamuon. Not that it should show up again, but if it does, Karellen will do the same.

I have also been tripping all sorts of amazing over _Durarara! x 2 Shou_. It's almost like an amazing dream.

I've also been screaming very loudly at the _Magi_ manga as I catch up, but you guys don't need to hear about that.

In any event, the third chapter will probably be out by August. Please look forward to it!

Next: Engage

[POST] 012815


	3. Engage

**Ragnarok**

By: Aviantei

3

Engage

* * *

Izaya finally switched off his microphone, taking a moment to enjoy the radio silence. Shizuo was doing the same, already working through what was at least his fifth cigarette. He had never bothered to count them before, so there was no reason to start now, unless the ash tray started to overflow. Shizuo would never admit it, but he was pretty grateful that Izaya could disable a smoke alarm, no matter how suspicious of a skill it was.

"If you're not careful, you're going to turn all the monitors yellow someday, Shizu-chan," Izaya taunted.

Shizuo frowned. "What's the matter Flea?" he asked. He normally wouldn't care, but this was different. If it had to do with the mission, then it was Shizuo's business. Izaya's eyebrows raised before he attempted to send a glare in the blonde's direction. It didn't have much effect. "That wasn't even close to being a real insult. What's distracting you?"

"Impressive Shizu-chan, you're becoming more perceptive than I ever imagined." Shizuo waited. Eventually, Izaya sighed. "Do you remember how we got here?"

Shizuo scoffed. "Of course I remember." There was no way he could forget. The explanation had confused him a bit at first, but he had committed it to memory. Nearly a year ago, there had been a powerful surge of Chaos that had affected their home dimension. Not only that, but connecting pulses had made it to this dimension of 'Reality,' taking Izaya and Shizuo along with it. "What does that have to do with anything?"

Izaya closed his eyes, not saying anything. Shizuo took a drag from his cigarette, then proceeded to crush the butt into the ashtray. It made him feel a bit better. "You don't think that the source of the Chaos is here, do you?" Shizuo asked.

Izaya turned his chair around so that he was facing the other male. "I don't know," he admitted, eyes narrowing. The words probably felt bitter in his mouth for a guy who prided himself on knowing everything. "I just have the feeling that we're dealing with something unlike anything we've ever dealt with before is all."

Shizuo grunted. He didn't want to take the Flea's word for it, but his own gut was telling him something similar. He didn't know whether to feel disgusted by the idea of sharing instincts with Izaya or cautious because they had the same feeling at all.

"Listen, Flea—"

"_Clark reporting in, target has been Neutralized. Requesting new assignment._"

Shizuo let out a small growl at the sound of the transmission in his ear. While it was a good thing that a call was coming in so quickly since it meant that their unit was getting their job done, the timing couldn't have been worse. Even if most members of the Agency knew about Izaya and Shizuo's situation, the latter didn't have the patience to deal with anyone else to talk about it.

"You really should answer that, Shizu-chan," Izaya remarked. The brunette had already turned back to his computer, navigating through the assignments. Shizuo resisted the urge to punch something. Just being in Izaya's presence didn't set off a hair trigger like it had used to, but that didn't stop the Flea from being annoying as all hell at times. "You know how the Agency likes to be punctual. Besides, there's no point in us getting worked up over nothing, anyway."

Shizuo lit another cigarette. If Izaya wanted to be like that, then fine. The sooner they finished up the mission they might be able to talk about this again.

"This is Heiwajima. Report in."

* * *

"Sir. I am currently near the lobby area. A potential target has headed up the stairs alone. Should I engage?"

A grunt. "_What do her Chaos levels look like?_"

"She only ranks in at twenty-two. However, all other high risk targets in the immediate area are in clusters and impossible to engage without causing a scene."

"_Go for it, then. Send feedback on her data and engage when able._"

"Yes, sir."

Karellen took a deep breath, shifting her focus away from the conversation. There was something familiar about the voice from Command, but she couldn't place it. If she didn't know any better, she would have said that it sounded almost like a dream, or something impossible. She shook her head, pushing off from the wall in the stairwell she had been leaning against.

She didn't have time for this.

"Crap, though, this is getting kind of bad…" she muttered, heading up the stairs. Karellen reached into her bag for her headphones, which released J-pop music into her ears on command. Twenty-two. Her level was only twenty-two, and they were still coming after her. And after all the work she had done to avoid something like this…

_They're getting serious. Shit, just who the hell is in Command now?_

Karellen took the stairs up to the second floor, then left the stairwell. She wouldn't be able to get to her room just yet, but that was for the best. They would be waiting when she made it, but she couldn't afford a conflict just yet.

"If they're avoiding clusters, then I just need to stick by a cluster then…" Karellen smiled, and took a deep breath. Even if they all shared a same interest, she still couldn't get used to talking with strangers. She looked around and wasn't disappointed. A group of con-goers was gathered around one of the room's doorways. "Hey! Your cosplay looks great!" she complimented as she approached them.

_Sorry for using you. I just need a little longer._

* * *

"It sounds like you've picked up a pretty interesting one, eh, Shizu-chan?" Izaya asked, finishing up dealing orders to another agent. It seemed that things were going well so far, which alleviated some of Izaya's concern. There wasn't much that could make him worry, and the fact that he was even concerned at all just made the situation worse.

Not that he'd ever let that on to Shizuo of all people. A year away from home hadn't been enough to change that.

Shizuo shrugged in response. "Yeah, I guess," he murmured, taking another drag from his cigarette. Izaya resisted the urge to grimace. At some point or another, he had developed an aversion to cigarettes due to mere association with the blonde. The unintentional emersion he had been exposed to from close proximity didn't do much to change that either.

Glancing over, Izaya watched as Shizuo still navigated through the menus of the Agency's operating system, tracking down the newest target's location information. All it took was a little extra research and the programmers back at headquarters could connect badge information, hotel room or location, and biometric signals together with Chaos wavelength as the linchpin. The fact that they could invade privacy like that without repercussions just went to show how powerful they were.

Izaya had yet to figure it out if that power came from influence or money, and he didn't like either option much anyway.

"Come on, Shizu-chan, you could share a little bit, here. All of my current targets are barely worth mentioning, let alone Neutralizing," Izaya almost whined. This job could be fun at times, but at others it could be extremely boring. Whenever targets had boring records, it made Izaya's interest in what he was doing drop.

Shizuo rolled his eyes. "You just want something to amuse yourself with," the blonde accused. Izaya wouldn't deny it. "Why does this have to be so complicated with you? There was an agent near a target. Right place, right time. End of story."

Shizuo could be so simple at times. "You can't tell me you aren't the least bit curious about the people we deal with," Izaya tried.

"I'm not like you, Flea." Izaya resisted the urge to scoff. That much was so obvious that it didn't need to be said. "I just want to get this job done and over with. I don't need to snoop around in these people's lives whenever it's not going to mean anything the second we get back home."

Izaya frowned. Even if that was a somewhat good point, he wasn't about to lose to Shizuo of all people in a battle of logic. "Don't tell me you haven't noticed the similarities between our world and this one," he said. "Just because there are some key differences doesn't make everything immediately different. There's a chance that some of the people here will exist in our world. I just can't waste time doing nothing here, but it's the best I can do. Some of us actually have to put effort into their jobs, Shizu-chan."

Shizuo took a long drag, exhaling it. "I'm not in the mood to fight with you, so will you knock it off already?"

"How rude. I was simply trying to make a point," Izaya retorted, frowning. The worst part of it was that Shizuo was right, too. Why did he have to be so good at making inferences one instant after failing to draw simple conclusions? Couldn't he just pick one thing and stick with it? "That being said, I have job related reasons, too. Information is power, Shizu-chan. The more we know about our targets, we have a better chance of properly Neutralizing them without any complications."

"Yeah, whatever," Shizuo dismissed. "That shit's your specialty, not mine. Don't make me do your dirty work for you."

"In that case, I thank you for your gracious offer." Izaya turned back to his keyboard, hiding his scowl. He had been able to maintain his calm around Shizuo for almost a year, why was it breaking down now? Surely he had better self-control than that.

Izaya inhaled, focusing on his keyboard. Whenever he had made his modifications to the system, he had added in some back doors to Shizuo's section of Command. While his original intention had been to take over in the impending event of Shizuo's inadequacy, that had surprisingly turned out to not be much of an issue after a few missions.

Now, it was more of a way to keep track of things that Shizuo didn't bother to deal with on his own, as well as accessing records whenever reports needed to be submitted. A few strokes of the keyboard later and Izaya was left to wait for Shizuo's transmissions to load and he could look into the matter himself.

Eventually, the silence and tension let Izaya know he needed to say something. While he didn't care of their relationship crumbled, it would get in the way of the end goal easily. And as much as Izaya enjoyed the idea of going home alone, leaving Shizuo behind and leading a Shizu-chan-free life, he wasn't sure such a thing was even possible.

"This isn't just about that, though," Izaya admitted, his voice lacking the previous sarcasm. Shizuo didn't say anything, but he didn't object either. "There's a chance that one of the people we end up Neutralizing is responsible for the Chaos that sent us here. If we analyze their data and patterns, we might be able to pinpoint them." He turned back around to face his partner.

"So now you want to talk about it," Shizuo said, turning his own chair around. Another cigarette was dangling from his lips, and Izaya resisted the urge to scrunch up his nose. Probably the only reason Shizuo didn't have lung cancer yet was that he was a monster. "So when I try to ask questions you dodge the point, but when you ask questions, I'm expected to go along with it."

"Ugh, you're so petty, Shizu-chan. I was just trying to avoid a stalled mission just because you suddenly felt the need to prioritize sentimentality over practicality." Izaya spun his chair around again, clicking to access the data he was looking for, then turned back, completing a circle. "If you want to talk about home so badly, then do it."

Shizuo finished his drag off the cigarette, balancing it between his fingers. "Alright, then. If you're looking into all this data stuff so seriously, have you found anything yet?"

Izaya smirked. "I haven't found a solution, but I've at least discovered plenty of clues," he said. "First off, the Agency reports have kept records of just how much Chaos erupted the night we came here. Secondly, the Agency also classifies targets by their Chaos levels. From these two things I can determine the minimum amount of people that would be necessary to produce such a result."

Izaya liked to think that Shizuo looked mildly impressed. Sometimes it was hard to tell with his damn sunglasses getting in the way. Why did he even wear them? "And that is?" the blonde prompted.

"Approximately five-hundred thousand with average values, not counting anomalies. Far more than would be conceivable for even places like Comic Con to mass, even if you assume that all people in attendance have at least the average amount of Chaos in them," Izaya reported. "In terms of probability, very unlikely to happen. As such, it would take _at least_ several high-class Chaos sources in combination with a convention in order to make a disturbance big enough to bring us here."

Shizuo nodded, although Izaya questioned just how much he understood. "Yeah, but isn't the Agency already looking into stuff like that? I'm sure that they have records like that already," Shizuo said. "You're really not getting anywhere new, Flea."

Izaya scowled. Things would be less frustrating if Shizuo just listened in awe like he was supposed to. "That's just the groundwork, you protozoan. And while the Agency has this and several other data sources available, they do a terrible job at producing results from them. Sure, Command officers are on the lookout for targets exceeding the eighty-level mark, but they focus too much on the present instead of the past.

"In other words, they completely neglect what their levels were in the past, and thus fail to recognize who is the source."

"Okay, that makes sense," Shizuo said. Izaya would take that as a victory. "So you're researching in case you find a potential source. Have you found anyone yet?"

And that was where Izaya's progress came to a halt. "These things take time, Shizu-chan. We've been to a lot of places, but we haven't encountered every person that's been to a convention in the past year. But in short, the reason I spend so much time—let's see, how did you oh so elegantly put it?—'snooping around in these people's lives,' was it? Honestly, Shizu-chan, I'm not some animal like you."

Shizuo's eyes narrowed. "Watch it." The blonde's voice was gruff and dangerous. Izaya didn't mind at all. It was fun to see how far he could push his former enemy's buttons, to test the waters for his limits. The more Shizuo got used to the brunette's taunts, the less annoyed he would get in the future at the little things.

It was like training a dog.

Izaya waved a hand in the air. "My bad, my bad," he said, a weak apology. "But in short, that's the reason you were looking for right? Does that satisfy you?"

"Why didn't you just say so?" Shizuo sounded dismissive enough, his former irritation seemingly forgotten. No matter how much his body language suggested it, Izaya didn't want to take the chance of misreading him. Shizuo leaned farther back in his chair. "Huh, who thought all this data stuff could be so useful? Is that why you became an information broker?"

Izaya turned back to his computer screen, looking through the list of Shizuo's recent target assignments. At the top of the list, a girl with light brown hair past her shoulders stared back at him through the lenses of her glasses. He accessed her profile and waited for it to load, looking to Shizuo.

"Something like that," he admitted. "Information is powerful. Everyone needs it, not matter what facet of life they get involved in. I was good at it, and Shiki-san helped me get started. The connections to the underworld were simply an interesting bonus…and of course it lets me learn more about my precious little humans."

Shizuo grimaced. "It creeps me out whenever you talk about people like that, Flea," he said. Izaya shrugged, smiling a bit. He hoped it made Shizuo feel even more uncomfortable. "I bet your parents are real pieces of work. Just look at how you and your sisters turned out."

"Don't be rude, Shizu-chan, my parents are just as normal as anyone." Shizuo didn't seem convinced. Izaya laughed. "I'm being honest here. I became the way I am on my own. My sisters were my fault. No need to blame my parents for my behavior any more than we can blame yours for giving birth to such a monster."

Shizuo grunted. "The data you were looking for just finished." It was such a desperate attempt to finish the conversation that Izaya laughed again.

"Thank you very much, Shizu-chan," he almost cooed. He saw Shizuo shudder before turning back around.

_I'll have to give him some credit…Shizu-chan certainly can be more amusing than I initially gave him credit for._

Izaya settled in to read through the girl's profile. The Agency's data files were immense, and certain targets had the chance of filling up sizable files if they were enough of a threat or attended enough conventions. Their home, some of their history, their interests—everything possible that could work in their advantage to Neutralizing Chaos.

Karellen Fenlon didn't seem to be much of an issue. She ranked in at twenty-two. She wrote fanfiction and occasionally dabbled in fanart. Most of her activities didn't seem to be an issue, and her Chaos level was probably only at the number it was because of the convention's influence. Izaya may have been paranoid for nothing, but it was better to be sure than to think you were safe when you actually weren't.

On the verge of yawning, Izaya scrolled down.

"_Shit._"

* * *

And here it is, chapter three. On time and everything. Who'da thunk?

Thanks to GateBreaker and mika . siam. 71192 for your favorites and reviews! I'm glad to hear you're enjoying this whim of a story and I hope to hear from you guys.

Well, the main exposition's almost over. Time for the action.

And next week's episode is the adaptation of book 9... I'm so psyched.

Speaking of the the _DRRR!_ light novels, the first volume has been released in the US! I recently finished my copy and found it just as enjoyable as watching the anime the first time. (No matter how much I go through it, Izaya's chapter just gives me thrills, he's so amazing.) There are a lot of distinctions between the novel and anime, so I'd definitely check it out. Plus, Narita-sensei deserves support for giving us this wonderful series (and the _Baccano!_ novels are next, thank god for Yen Pres...)!

Putting that aside, the next chapter is slated to release on October seventh! Please look forward to it (it's one of my favorites)!

* * *

NEXT: Illusion

[POST] 081915


	4. Illusion

**Ragnarok**

By: Aviantei

4

Illusion

* * *

Agent Oliver Grewal headed up the stars in confidence. His target—some teenage girl with light brown hair and a _Bleach_ bag covered in pins almighty—had spent time milling about the third floor, chatting it up with some cosplayers, finally letting them go as they headed off to the convention, but not without scribbling down some of their contact information for later. It had been boring to wait, and the Agent had just barely escaped a few odd looks from passing hotel customers, but that was something he had just learned to deal with as part of the job.

It wasn't easy, working for the Chaos Management Agency. However, it was more interesting than any other job in the world, just like it was ripped right out of some sci-fi movie or whatever. The Self-Chaos Gauge displaying on the inside of his glasses went up a point, and Grewal did his best to curb his thoughts. His job was to get rid of Chaos, not create it.

Finally, though, his target was heading up to her room, where she would be isolated. Neutralizing someone was simple enough once you got used to it. He could get there around the same time, maybe strike up a conversation, and activate his gear. Her Chaos level wasn't even thirty. It would be simple.

"Display location," Grewal muttered to himself. The interface on the inside of his sunglasses adjusted, displaying a map of the hotel with a marker over his target's current location. _Room 419._ Adjusting his Neutralizer inside his pocket, the Agent left the stairwell, searching the numbers painted on the doors. Six rooms later, there was a corner, and Grewal turned it.

Only to see himself standing at the door.

_No way._

He had heard about this before. His mentor had told him stories upon entering the Agency—about people who could make you see things, kids who were the _real_ problem the CMA was fighting. Grewal hadn't believed it, but this proved it was real. He even blinked a few times and lowered his sunglasses to the tip of his nose.

And he was still standing there.

This wasn't supposed to happen. He pushed his glasses back up, rereading his target's stats. _Karellen Fenlon; age: eighteen; Chaos level: twenty-two. Twenty-two._ This was wrong. The biggest threat he had ever encountered in the field had a level in the sixties, and it still hadn't been anything like this. Eighty was the minimum number it took to call in Command to take control, and even that wasn't—

Grewal needed to get a grip, and he needed to get it fast. According to his monitoring equipment, the girl he was following didn't have a high enough Chaos score to be able to create these sorts of things. That meant he could handle her. There wasn't a need to contact Command. Easing his thoughts, Grewal lowered his hand from the trigger that would set off the emergency signal.

The real problem was, if the girl wasn't the one making the illusion, then somebody else was, and Grewal had no idea who that could be. According to the debriefing his CMA unit had been given en route to the convention, none of the preregistered guests were expected to exceed standard levels up to forty. That didn't always account for the people that bought their tickets at the door or people who were nearby on other business, but if someone to bring this much of a Chaos threat were in the area, the Agency should have _known_.

As an agent, Grewal's primary objective was to Neutralize the targets he was assigned to. However, the main objective of the _Agency_ was to minimize the Chaos Effect in other worlds by lowering the total amount of Chaos levels. If there was a source this powerful around, Grewal had a duty to at least try and locate it to assist Command.

Once again, he reached for the small control panel on his neck, hidden under a layer of synthetic skin. Grewal was about to tap it twice to call in, but stopped. He had been going over the details of his situation to make sure he could report them accurately, and had realized he had yet another problem.

Mainly, the illusion he was seeing looked _just like him_. This became especially important when it just so happened to be standing guard _right in front of his target's room._

_Whoever this is,_ Grewal concluded, taking deep breaths in an attempt not to panic, _knows who I am. They know what I do, too. This is bad. This target doesn't just have an insane Chaos level under their control, but they know about the CMA, too._

He had to do something. Anything. What if the Chaos source was a spy inside the Agency? That could only end badly. Briefly, Grewal's thoughts flickered to Heiwajima and Orihara. While they were skilled leaders, they had suddenly appeared out of nowhere. What if…?

_No._ He couldn't start doubting the people in Command. If he did that, then he really would be alone. Forcing himself into action, Grewal took a few steps towards the illusion of himself, painfully aware of the sweat that was starting to form in his armpits. Illusion Grewal didn't move to acknowledge any movement, just remained stationary.

It was strange moving closer to the illusion. Every little detail of Grewal was preserved, from the mole on the right side of his neck to the aglet-less ends of his fraying shoelaces. The agent had to repress a shudder. His new target was either very powerful or had gotten an incredibly good look at him. Grewal didn't want to think of the result if the case was both.

Illusion Grewal continued to stare at some unidentifiable point, not seeing anything.

But what if that wasn't the case? What if the person who had made Illusion Grewal could actually see through its eyes? What if the lack of action was a trap to lure Grewal into submission, and the illusion could affect reality?

What if it was a perfect physical replica?

As an agent, Grewal's training was screaming at him not to let his imagination get out of hand, just in case it would create unnecessary Chaos. He couldn't help it. If getting into the CMA was _like_ getting dragged into a movie, this—_this_ was the real freaking deal. This was the plot, the action, the time to shine, and Grewal just _had_ to know if there was a chance that maybe he could be a hero.

Partway out of a need to assess the situation for his own safety, and even far more out of a desire based in pure curiosity, Grewal reached his hand up the blue-rimmed sunglasses on Illusion Grewal's face and attempted to pick them up.

Thankfully—or possibly disappointingly—his hand passed right through. It wasn't just the glasses, either. Upon further inspection, Grewal was able to pass his entire hand through the illusion's head and touch the door behind it. Illusion Grewal looked the same as ever, except for the block where the real Grewal's arm was at the moment. The imagery of pushing a hole into his own face might have been disturbing if Grewal were not so fascinated by the scene.

An illusion. _A real, honest-to-shit illusion._

Almost as if it was intended to break him out of his reverie, Grewal's earpiece crackled to life. _"What the hell do you think you're just doing standing there?"_ the voice of Orihara yelled. _"Your target is confirmed to be inside. You need to get inside and attempt to Neutralize or incapacitate her. Shizu-chan and I will be up in a few minutes, so get off your ass and _get in there_!"_

And just like that, the transmission was over, and so was Grewal's slacking. Doing a quick five-second assessment of his gear, the agent took a deep breath and backed up a few steps. Once he was sure he would have enough momentum, Grewal rushed through the illusion copy of himself before letting his foot impact against the door of Room 419.

He managed to break the doorknob but not the hinges; he could still get in, so Grewal couldn't bring himself to care. Which part of the door broke mattered almost as much as the cost to repair it, which the CMA would easily be able to cover.

Tightening his grip on his 3DS disguised Neutralizer, Grewal was glad he had chosen to wear gloves for all the sweat now obvious in his palms. With a silent hope that Command would be able to prevent an incident in the hall for the broken door, the agent paced his steps as he walked down the small hallway that served as the room's entrance. The bedroom portion of Room 419 came into view, one of the two beds occupied by his original target, who couldn't seemed to be bothered to look up from her notebook, despite the fact that her room had just been broken into.

The pencil in the girl's hand made a few more strokes. She frowned, then picked up an eraser on the bedspread to eliminate a large section of whatever was on the page. She used so much force that the act of erasing seemed like one of great violence, eraser dust ensuing from the carnage.

Heaving a great sigh, Karellen Fenlon looked up and said, "It's really rude to break down doors to get inside rooms, Oliver. Next time, I suggest you knock."

* * *

Izaya's shout made Shizuo jump, although he would never admit it out loud. Still, it didn't change the fact of how surprised he was. Always, _always_, the Flea had kept his cool, ever painfully obvious by the smoothness in his voice. It was always "Come now, don't be such an idiot" this or "You really are a monster" that, calmly, coolly, and under control. On the few occasions where Izaya _did_ raise his voice, it was always just enough so that he could be heard over whatever distance was between them at the moment.

But it was never like this.

Furthermore, Izaya was scrambling to equip his gear. Orihara Izaya. _Scrambling_. Shizuo could only stare, trying to absorb the scene but not really being able to _comprehend_ it. That had been another thing about Izaya's cool. It was why he was more in control of Command, because he knew how not to let situations get to him. His ability to keep his thoughts collected wasn't just a benefit, it was taken for granted.

"Whoa, Flea, what the hell's your deal?" Shizuo asked, because, for once in his life, Izaya wasn't saying anything.

"Ugh, Shizu-chan, why is it that you've chosen this moment to be such an utter _imbecile_," Izaya seethed, not even attaching a question mark onto the end of his words. Pausing in attaching the holster for his Neutralizer to his belt, Izaya picked up the pack with Shizuo's gear and threw it at the blonde. Given who the target was, it didn't cause any damage, but it did make an audible sound of impact. "There's no time to waste on words not paired up with actions. So, in case it wasn't _obvious_ enough for you, we're needed in the field to Neutralize a target that ordinary stock agents can't handle on their own. Now, will you stop sticking your head up your ass and get ready?"

Seeing as Izaya was only half equipped and looked ready to run out of the room at any given second, Shizuo opened his own equipment pack, trying to get his gear prepared without making some stupid mistake like not fastening things properly. "I don't get it, Flea," he said, sliding the Interface Sunglasses—a perfect replica of his own, technology aside—on. "There wasn't an emergency call or anything, plus the sensors haven't gone off. So what's the deal?"

Somehow fully equipped in less than a minute—had that been a training requirement? Shizuo couldn't remember—Izaya strode toward the door. "Because," he said, his voice mostly back under control aside from a few traces of irritation, "like I said before, the Agency is a bunch of fools who only care about current display ratings as opposed to past and confirmed threats. Why they even code them if they're not going to do anything about them is beyond me."

"Code?" Shizuo asked. Maybe it was time to do a brush up on the Agency's member manual. Izaya kept talking about things that sounded important, but Shizuo didn't know what they meant. Sure, he had gone through the same training, but he had really only learned the basics. Doing the necessary check, Shizuo turned on his glasses. Immediately, data appeared in his readings—courtesy of Izaya—and Shizuo blinked.

Staring at him was the picture of Karellen Fenlon.

* * *

Grewal could hear his heart pounding in his windpipe, and a full-on heart attack only felt like it was seconds away. He tried to suck in a few breaths, but they only came out raspy. She knew his name. Somehow, she had found out his name—he was listed as a pseudonym in even the _convention_ registry, and she _still_ had called him by his first name, like it was natural.

Hesitantly, Grewal focused back into his interface, and the images sharpened. His target was still displayed there, along with what was supposed to be her current readings. He looked back to the girl on the bed. They were the same, identical. Then again, there was always the chance that it was just another illusion. Given what he had experienced in the hallway, Grewal wouldn't have doubted it.

"No, no, you've got it all wrong," Karellen commented. She set her sketchbook aside, but Grewal didn't bother to decipher the sketched out lines. "While that's an interesting theory, the person you see before you is exactly who it looks like. Using illusions to disguise myself is not only risky, but kind of like cheating. Besides, I just wanted to enjoy myself, not get caught up in anything big."

Grewal didn't say anything. What could he say? This was all over his head. Training had never covered this, and even his old mentor hadn't told him what to do if one of the real threats ever appeared in the field. She didn't even have that high of a Chaos reading, so he doubted that his Neutralizer would do any good.

"Ah, it's a shame you found me out, though," Karellen continued, as if she knowingly talked to CMA agents every day. "All I wanted was a nice relaxing weekend with my family, you know?"

"Wh-who are you?" Grewal managed. He didn't even care if he had stuttered. "A-and I mean _really_. Just what in the hell are you?"

"Oh?" Karellen tilted her head. "Don't you have all sorts of data on me already?" She tapped the side of her own glasses with a smile on her face. "Well, I guess since you asked semi-nicely, I can tell you a bit. Even if I keep my mouth shut, my vacation's over anyway."

Clearing her throat, Karellen Fenlon stood up. She stepped forward, closing the distance between them. "Well, most of the time I'd say I'm a writer. As of right now, my occupation could be marked as student… Oh, and I'm eighteen-years-old, though I'm sure you already knew that.

"Sometimes I consider myself to be an artist, other times a writer. Maybe even a singer if I feel like it. Though, really, I'm not good enough to be any of those." Karellen let out a soft laugh, and Grewal shuddered. "I'm clearly an anime and manga fan if I'm here, and I guess I have enough of an interest in Norse Mythology to call it a tiny bit more than a hobby."

It was unfair. She was right in front of him. If Grewal could have shaken off his internal terror to move, he could have touched her arm without much effort. She hadn't taken his Neutralizer, so it would only take a twitch of the finger to set off the trigger. Something was stopping him, making the action impossible.

"Am…" Grewal said, surprised that even his mouth was still working. "Am I unable to move because of you?"

Karellen smiled, lightly tapping the fingers of one hand against the palm of the other. It didn't make any sound, but her intention was clear. "Very good," she said. "Most Agents wouldn't be able to figure that out after just one encounter. I'm surprised the higher-ups even let that sort of information slip all the way down to someone like you."

Briefly, Grewal's mind flashed to his mentor, but he kept his mouth shut.

"Then again," Karellen continued, "I guess the information is there for anyone that wants to look for it. Not that many people do." She shrugged. "I can give you a little hint, though, even if you won't be able to use it in enough time to be useful."

The girl smiled at him again, only interrupted by the movement of her lips. "Online I am known as Yggdrasil," she said. "Otherwise marked in the Agency's target system as code number BUN 369…"

* * *

"…HV1AN731." Reacting to Izaya's voice, Shizuo's Interface Sunglasses immediately reacted. One lens still displayed Karellen Fenlon, but the other was accessing data menus that Shizuo couldn't even attempt to recognize as they flashed past. Eventually, the blonde just closed his eyes and waited until the soft ping from his earpiece that let him know his—rather, Izaya's—request had been completed.

It wasn't like Shizuo had memorized all the menus in the CMA's computers, because that would have just been a pain in the ass. However, he could at least recognize the ones necessary to his job, and this wasn't any of them.

Gathered together was a list of what he guessed were the codes Izaya had mentioned, and all of them started with three letters: _BUN_.

"Just what the hell have you gotten into, Flea?" Shizuo asked.

But the door to the room was closing, and Izaya was already gone.

* * *

Tada, updates are here! This chapter was fun to write. I tried to make the scene set-ups stylistically similar to an action movie, but I don't know how well that actually worked out...

Thanks to mika . siam . 71192 and Liljn for your review and follow!I'm actually always surprised by the number of people that like these silly dream/random pieces. I promise to keep working hard, even if this story takes some time to put together...

It's actually crazier to think that NaNoWriMo is around the corner...I'm starting to finally get back into the swing of _Exception_, but it seems like I should be prepping for _Twelve Zero Zero_ instead. (shrugs) Oh, well. If you're gonna do NaNo this session, I'd love to have you as a buddy. I'm Aviantei over in those parts, too...

You can also now support my writing and stuff over on Patreon. Link's on my profile if you want to check that out...

I'm actually trying to focus on knocking out _Exception _right now, so updates will be a bit sparse on this for a while. I have great plans for it, though, so you'll definitely see it again.

NEXT: Meeting

[POST] 100715


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